I voted third party in 2016 and am going to do so again this November. That was always going to be the case regardless of who the (D) nominee was, as long as Trump was the ®. So it’s not about Bernie for me.
Affiliation: independent
I’m going to vote Dem for the first time for president this year. If Bernie or Warren is the candidate I’ll vote for Cory Gardener for Senate to do my part to ensure that the Republicans retain control of the senate.
I’m a lifelong Democrat and no fan of Bernie at all. Your option e) should be, “Vote for Bernie because he, for all his many flaws, is 'waaaaaay better than the incumbent.” But lacking that option, I selected d).
I am not sure I am eligible to vote in your poll, because I have considered voting for Trump, but didn’t. (I voted for the Libertarian, in hopes they would get enough votes to qualify in my state for major party status and wouldn’t have to do the petition thing to get on the ballot. It didn’t work.)
In case I am eligible for the poll, if Bernie is the Democratic nominee, and it looks at all possible that he might win, I will vote for Trump.
Out there in the electorate? Very likely. On the SDMB? Almost certainly not. I have seen too many posts saying they will vote for the Democrat no matter what to believe otherwise.
And I don’t think the problem for Sanders will be that Biden supporters or Warren supporters or Buttigieg supporters or any-other-Democrat supporters will say “if I can’t vote for my guy I will vote for Trump”. The problem will be that they stay home and don’t vote at all.
In the end it probably won’t make any difference. Everyone who voted for Trump in 2016 will vote for him again, swing voters will notice the economy booming and vote for Trump, and Republicans who don’t want a socialist in the White House will vote for Trump. The yellow dog Democrats and the Bernie Bros will vote for Bernie, and everyone else will vote if they get around to it. Or not.
I would think that would be hopeless. I understand you want to get Libertarians on the ballot, but I think the most important thing now is to get Trump voted out of office.
I don’t know why you’re mincing about. You already said you’d vote for Trump if Sanders was the Dem nominee. It’s an inconsequential poll, not a legally binding agreement.